Subprime Minister ?

[Halfpenny 114]

18 hours ago, TRADE SURVIVOR said:

I am more concerned about one of my customers rather than the economy who contracted  covid in February 2020 and is still walking with aid of a stick, plus we have two retired members of staff who have spent many weeks in hospital due to the contagion. Our death rate cannot be attributed solely to the government in the early days it was the scientists who advocated a herd immunity approach, also the lack of common sense within our community's exacerbated the spread , we as individuals all have a responsibility which so many sadly ignore (been in a supermarket latley).  Economy wise it's pretty cyclical around every ten years we have a downturn, we were heading there anyway just so sad for many families that this virus was the catalyst. Don't be nervous the economy it will recover. As for your point about our economy being hit harder than any other developed country I would love to see the numbers.

    

In-depth data on the economic impact of Covid 19 are available on the UK Govt's Office of National Statistics website. UK GDP is showing the biggest contraction in the G7 by some margin - 8.6%.  In Europe, Spain is the only large economy fairing worse.  

The money handed out by the government has been astronomical and ill-considered. Much of it has been misappropriated.  £37bn to Serco just for the failed Test and Trace (£528 for every man, woman and child in the country)!   Rishi didn't just find a magic money tree - he found a whole forest of them.  Public debt has exploded and stands at around £28k for every man, woman and child in the country. If interest rates rise 1% it will cost the government around £30bn extra a year. A massive increase in money supply, coupled with the ill-judged Stamp Duty holiday has fuelled a classic asset price bubble - be interesting to see how that plays out. Throwing that amount of money into the economy is going to fuel inflation in a big way.  In the UK we funnel increasingly ridiculous sums of money into non-productive assets such as houses, rather than productive plant, machinery and technology which could help raise GDP.

My daughter is a medic in the NHS and I remember I wrote on this forum right at the start of pandemic how she'd told me they were already short of the most basic materials such as swabs even before the first Covid patients showed up. The NHS is not fit for purpose. Its a post-WWII dinosaur that was born into a world that no longer exists. It has practically ground to a halt during Covid and the UK's death rate and long term Covid outcomes are amongst the worst in the world (along with a dismal record on cancer survival etc etc). Unfortunately most British people have been indoctrinated to believe in the NHS as some form of religion and so criticism or genuine reform seems to be impossible. Many, many countries have much better public health systems - a US-style system is not the only alternative.

In some ways I don't care. I've done pretty well out of the motor trade over the years and semi-retired a while back. I offshored most of my money into USD accounts and bought a couple of properties overseas. I've had some prostate problems recently and I can afford private treatment so have an alternative to the NHS - its virtually impossible to get a consultation on the NHS at the moment anyway 'due to Covid' (although, amazingly, I see the same 'NHS' consultant almost immediately when I  go to the Spire hospital and give him £200!). I still have a 50% interest in a sales/service business but I don't rely on the income from it. Its been something to keep me busy over the last year.  Once international travel opens up a bit more I'll be off overseas again. The gloomy weather and general aggro and difficulty of life in the UK really gets me down.

[Frank Cannon 812]

11 hours ago, Halfpenny said:

In-depth data on the economic impact of Covid 19 are available on the UK Govt's Office of National Statistics website. UK GDP is showing the biggest contraction in the G7 by some margin - 8.6%.  In Europe, Spain is the only large economy fairing worse.  

The money handed out by the government has been astronomical and ill-considered. Much of it has been misappropriated.  £37bn to Serco just for the failed Test and Trace (£528 for every man, woman and child in the country)!   Rishi didn't just find a magic money tree - he found a whole forest of them.  Public debt has exploded and stands at around £28k for every man, woman and child in the country. If interest rates rise 1% it will cost the government around £30bn extra a year. A massive increase in money supply, coupled with the ill-judged Stamp Duty holiday has fuelled a classic asset price bubble - be interesting to see how that plays out. Throwing that amount of money into the economy is going to fuel inflation in a big way.  In the UK we funnel increasingly ridiculous sums of money into non-productive assets such as houses, rather than productive plant, machinery and technology which could help raise GDP.

My daughter is a medic in the NHS and I remember I wrote on this forum right at the start of pandemic how she'd told me they were already short of the most basic materials such as swabs even before the first Covid patients showed up. The NHS is not fit for purpose. Its a post-WWII dinosaur that was born into a world that no longer exists. It has practically ground to a halt during Covid and the UK's death rate and long term Covid outcomes are amongst the worst in the world (along with a dismal record on cancer survival etc etc). Unfortunately most British people have been indoctrinated to believe in the NHS as some form of religion and so criticism or genuine reform seems to be impossible. Many, many countries have much better public health systems - a US-style system is not the only alternative.

In some ways I don't care. I've done pretty well out of the motor trade over the years and semi-retired a while back. I offshored most of my money into USD accounts and bought a couple of properties overseas. I've had some prostate problems recently and I can afford private treatment so have an alternative to the NHS - its virtually impossible to get a consultation on the NHS at the moment anyway 'due to Covid' (although, amazingly, I see the same 'NHS' consultant almost immediately when I  go to the Spire hospital and give him £200!). I still have a 50% interest in a sales/service business but I don't rely on the income from it. Its been something to keep me busy over the last year.  Once international travel opens up a bit more I'll be off overseas again. The gloomy weather and general aggro and difficulty of life in the UK really gets me down.

Great post